The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) announced today that Paul Fuentez, Central Region Director of Environmental, Health and Safety at Ericsson, Andy Haldane, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Tower Engineering Professionals (TEP), Joe Nicks, Director of Safety for PeakNet Services and Robert Siegel, Executive Director at ENSA North America have been appointed as members of the Alliance’s Board of Governors.
In their new roles as members of the Board of Governors, Fuentez will be fulfilling the OEM seat, Haldane the Engineering seat, Nicks the Utilities seat and Siegel the seat reserved for Trainers.
NWSA, headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, is a national non-profit assessment and certification organization established to provide thorough, independent assessments of knowledge and skills and provide verifiable worker certification in order to enhance safety, reduce workplace risk, improve quality, encourage training, and recognize the skilled professionals who work on towers and other non-standard communication structures.
The NWSA Board of Governors consists of representatives from a broad cross-section of the industry and is tasked with developing policy and overseeing the activities of the various committees that will serve under their jurisdiction.
“NWSA is excited to be able to add Paul, Andy, Joe and Rob to the talented and diverse roster of Governors that we have assembled,” stated Executive Director Duane MacEntee. “All four of these leaders possess the subject matter expertise and industry-specific experience necessary to help our organization scale the number of NWSA certified worker credentials in the marketplace,” added MacEntee.
NWSA currently offers the following industry-wide certification programs: Telecommunications Tower Technician 1 (TTT-1), Telecommunications Tower Technician 2 (TTT-2), Telecommunications Tower Foreman and Antenna & Line Specialty Certification Program.
Other assessment and certification programs NWSA will likely unveil in the future include Rigging, Small Cell/DAS Technician, Structural Modifications, Gin Pole Operations and Broadcast Tall Tower Technician.
Industry workers, companies and stakeholders are encouraged to visit the NWSA website at www.nws-a.org to learn more about the organization and how to begin the process of obtaining certification.
BIOGRAPHIES
PAUL FUENTEZ is the Regional Director of Environmental, Health and Safety for Ericsson’s Central Region. He has been with Ericsson since 2011 and in the telecom industry for 20+ years. During his tenure with Ericsson, Paul has held positions in operations, service delivery and now most recently in EH&S. As a Regional Director for Ericsson, Paul is responsible for ensuring safety compliance for all internal and external workers. Paul is passionate when it comes to education of our industry workers and preventing accidents.
Paul has participated in several industry related committees and serves on the Board of Directors for the Texas Wireless Association.
ANDY HALDANE, P.E., C.W.I., G.C. is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer for TEP & TEP-DB. He has been in the telecommunications industry for more than 20 years and is one of TEP’s most experienced tower climbers.
Andy is a licensed Professional Engineer in all 50 States and many territories including DC, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Marianas Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Additionally, he is a licensed P.E. in Australia and Trinidad and Tobago, he is a licensed General Contractor in North Carolina and California and he is an AWS QC1 Certified Weld Inspector. Andy is also an ENSA Certified Instructor trained in Tower Climbing Safety & Rescue and helps oversee TEP’s Safety Program. He graduated from Clarkson University in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and began his career working in various roles which included completing tower mappings, structural analysis, structural modifications designs, civil site designs, and post-construction inspections.
After working in the industry for two years, Andy saw a need for a turn-key engineering company and co-founded TEP with Pete Jernigan. In 1997, TEP began offering inspections and structural engineering and continued to expand TEP’s capabilities in 1998 by offering civil engineering and regulatory compliance. TEP continued to grow and expand service offerings throughout the early 2000’s and had complete engineering and land surveying departments by 2006. In 2008, another major component of Andy’s vision came to fruition by establishing TEP’s sister company, TEP Design Build, and providing TEP with construction capabilities.
JOE NICKS is the Director of Safety for PeakNet Services, which is a Duke Energy subsidiary. Joining Florida Power Corp in 1989 as a Lineman, Joe transitioned to the newly formed wireless attachment business in 2000 now known as PeakNet Wireless Services. Joe has worked as an oversight inspector overseeing hundreds of new builds, and for the last four years has been the Director of Safety overseeing contractor and customer compliance of company, federal, and state safety policies and procedures. Joe has created several in-house safety policies and training modules that have been implemented into the field. The majority of Joe’s projects are on high voltage electric transmission towers.
Joe is a member of the NATE STAR Initiative program, National Safety Council and the Utilities Safety & Operations Leadership Network.
ROBERT SIEGEL is a founding member of ENSA North America and is a subject matter expert in the field of working at heights and confined space who develops training programs, equipment solutions and work instructions that assist companies with risk management that ultimately protects their most valuable assets, the people.
Whether it’s a rooftop, tower, turbine or tunnel, Rob has first-hand knowledge of the risks professional climbers and confined space workers face when not properly trained, prepared and equipped. Rob and his entire team believes in what they offer to industry is truly protecting lives.
Rob has and continues his work as an innovator by designing and engineering equipment and solutions which further create efficient systems for work and rescue. He has provided expert witness testimony in fall related cases. He is involved with industry trade association committees, college advisory committees and standard development groups.
Rob maintains all the instructional credentials for training and certification in every discipline his company supports. He is a Sprat L3 Safety Supervisor and Rope Access Technician and Trainer. He has written confined space entry and rescue text books and under an ISO Certified Quality Management System, developed licensing programs to support standardized delivery, auditing and facilitation of industrial training programs.
Rob maintains his formal field of study in Engineering and Occupational Safety and Health by designing safety programs and industrial training simulators that support competency based learning and skill development. Along with Tim Loy of Mallory, he has built the nation’s largest indoor work at height and rescue training center which they affectionately refer to as the Coliseum for Industrial Athletes.
